A county prosecutor’s office says one of its law clerks passed the State Bar of California exam at age 17
ByThe Associated Press
December 8, 2023, 4:56 PM
In this photo provided by the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office, Peter Park, right, is sworn in by District Attorney Tim Ward in Visalia, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023. A county prosecutor’s office says one of its law clerks passed the State Bar of California exam at age 17. The Tulare County District Attorney’s Office said that, according to research, Peter Park is the youngest person to pass the exam. (Tulare County District Attorney’s Office via AP)
The Associated Press
VISALIA, Calif. — A county prosecutor’s office says one of its law clerks passed the State Bar of California exam at age 17.
The Tulare County District Attorney’s Office said this week that, according to research, Peter Park is the youngest person to pass the exam.
The State Bar said Friday in an email to The Associated Press that it could not confirm that Park is the youngest, but it hailed his achievement.
“Passing the California Bar exam is a major accomplishment at any age, and for someone as young as Mr. Park, it is quite an extraordinary feat and one worth celebrating,” Executive Director Leah Wilson said.
Park took the exam in July and received the test results on Nov. 9, according to a news release issued by the District Attorney’s office this week.
“It was not easy, but it was worth it,” Park said in a statement.
Park began high school at Oxford Academy in Cypress, California, in 2019 at age 13 and simultaneously began a four-year juris doctor program at the Northwestern California University School of Law after completing college-level proficiency exams, the office said.
Park graduated high school in 2021 by taking the state’s high school proficiency exam and focused on law school, graduating this year. He became a law clerk for the District Attorney’s office in August, turned 18 in late November and was sworn in as an attorney on Tuesday.
PONTIAC, Mich. — Parents of students killed at Michigan’s Oxford High School described the anguish of losing their children Friday as a judge considered whether a teenager will serve a life sentence for a mass shooting in 2021.
Crime victims in Michigan have a right to speak in court, and the final hearing in suburban Detroit was tense and emotional.
Ethan Crumbley, 17, could be locked up with no chance for parole for killing four fellow students and wounding others, a punishment sought by the Oakland County prosecutor.
But because of the shooter’s age, Judge Kwamé Rowe also could order a shorter sentence — anywhere from 25 years to 40 years at a minimum — that would eventually make him eligible for release by the state parole board.
“We are miserable. We miss Tate,” said Buck Myre, the father of Tate Myre. “Our family has a permanent hole in it that can never be fixed — ever.”
Nicole Beausoleil recalled seeing the body of her daughter, Madisyn Baldwin, at the medical examiner’s office, her hand with blue-painted fingernails sticking out from a covering.
“I looked though the glass. My scream should have shattered it,” Beausoleil said.
The shooter pleaded guilty to all 24 charges in the 2021 Oxford High School shooting, including first-degree murder and terrorism.
Crumbley, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, also will have an opportunity to speak in court and possibly explain why he believes he should be spared a life sentence.
Defense attorney Paulette Michel Loftin has argued Crumbley deserves an opportunity for parole after his “sick brain” is fixed through counseling and rehabilitation.
But after listening to testimony from experts, Rowe said in September that he had found only a “slim” chance that Crumbley could be rehabilitated behind bars.
In a journal, the shooter wrote about his desire to watch students suffer and the likelihood that he would spend his life in prison. He made a video on the eve of the shooting, declaring what he would do the next day.
Crumbley and his parents met with school staff on the day of the shooting after a teacher noticed violent drawings. But no one checked his backpack for a gun and he was allowed to stay.
Like their son, Jennifer and James Crumbley are locked up in the county jail. They are awaiting trial on involuntary manslaughter charges, accused of making a gun accessible at home and neglecting their son’s mental health.
The shooter killed Myre, Baldwin, Hana St. Juliana and Justin Shilling at the school in Oxford Township, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) north of Detroit. Six other students and a teacher also were wounded.
The Oxford school district hired an outside group to conduct an independent investigation. A report released in October said “missteps at each level” — school board, administrators, staff — contributed to the tragedy.
Crumbley’s behavior in class, including looking at a shooting video and gun ammunition on his phone, should have identified him as a “potential threat of violence,” the report said.
A Florida woman whose 11-year-old is accused of shooting two teenagers at a football practice in October is now charged with a felony
ByThe Associated Press
December 7, 2023, 8:08 PM
APOPKA, Fla. — A Florida woman whose 11-year-old is accused of shooting two teenagers at a practice in October was charged with a felony Thursday after authorities say she left a loaded gun in a worn and tattered cardboard box in her car.
Sharelle Johnson, 33, did not have the box secured and it was easily opened, according to a news release issued by the state attorney’s office. Investigators say Johnson’s son took the gun from the car and shot two teens following an argument at practice.
She was charged with negligence by leaving a loaded firearm within easy access of a child. A conviction carries up to five years in prison. A lawyer representing the family didn’t immediately return a phone message left with his office.
A report from the Apopka Police Department said the child had been chased and attacked by the shooting victims, with a witness telling detectives one of the shooting victims had slapped him in the face.
Surveillance video showed one of the victims chasing the 11-year-old before the shooting, according to police records. Someone tried to break up the altercation, but the suspect grabbed the gun and ran toward the two teens, police wrote in the report.
A mother and her 14-year-old daughter are advocating for better protections for victims after AI-generated nude images of the teen and other female classmates were circulated at a high school in New Jersey.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, officials are investigating an incident involving a teenage boy who allegedly used artificial intelligence to create and distribute similar images of other students – also teen girls – that attend a high school in suburban Seattle, Washington.
The disturbing cases have put a spotlight yet again on explicit AI-generated material that overwhelmingly harms women and children and is booming online at an unprecedented rate. According to an analysis by independent researcher Genevieve Oh that was shared with The Associated Press, more than 143,000 new deepfake videos were posted online this year, which surpasses every other year combined.
Desperate for solutions, affected families are pushing lawmakers to implement robust safeguards for victims whose images are manipulated using new AI models, or the plethora of apps and websites that openly advertise their services. Advocates and some legal experts are also calling for federal regulation that can provide uniform protections across the country and send a strong message to current and would-be perpetrators.
“We’re fighting for our children,” said Dorota Mani, whose daughter was one of the victims in Westfield, a New Jersey suburb outside of New York City. “They are not Republicans, and they are not Democrats. They don’t care. They just want to be loved, and they want to be safe.”
The problem with deepfakes isn’t new, but experts say it’s getting worse as the technology to produce it becomes more available and easier to use. Researchers have been sounding the alarm this year on the explosion of AI-generated child sexual abuse material using depictions of real victims or virtual characters. In June, the FBI warned it was continuing to receive reports from victims, both minors and adults, whose photos or videos were used to create explicit content that was shared online.
Several states have passed their own laws over the years to try to combat the problem, but they vary in scope. Texas, Minnesota and New York passed legislation this year criminalizing nonconsensual deepfake porn, joining Virginia, Georgia and Hawaii who already had laws on the books. Some states, like California and Illinois, have only given victims the ability to sue perpetrators for damages in civil court, which New York and Minnesota also allow.
A few other states are considering their own legislation, including New Jersey, where a bill is currently in the works to ban deepfake porn and impose penalties — either jail time, a fine or both — on those who spread it.
State Sen. Kristin Corrado, a Republican who introduced the legislation earlier this year, said she decided to get involved after reading an article about people trying to evade revenge porn laws by using their former partner’s image to generate deepfake porn.
“We just had a feeling that an incident was going to happen,” Corrado said.
The bill has languished for a few months, but there’s a good chance it might pass, she said, especially with the spotlight that’s been put on the issue because of Westfield.
The Westfield event took place this summer and was brought to the attention of the high school on Oct. 20, Westfield High School spokesperson Mary Ann McGann said in a statement. McGann did not provide details on how the AI-generated images were spread, but Mani, the mother of one of the girls, said she received a call from the school informing her nude pictures were created using the faces of some female students and then circulated among a group of friends on the social media app Snapchat.
The school hasn’t confirmed any disciplinary actions, citing confidentiality on matters involving students. Westfield police and the Union County Prosecutor’s office, who were both notified, did not reply to requests for comment.
Details haven’t emerged about the incident in Washington state, which happened in October and is under investigation by police. Paula Schwan, the chief of the Issaquah Police Department, said they have obtained multiple search warrants and noted the information they have might be “subject to change” as the probe continues. When reached for comment, the Issaquah School District said it could not discuss the specifics because of the investigation, but said any form of bullying, harassment, or mistreatment among students is “entirely unacceptable.”
If officials move to prosecute the incident in New Jersey, current state law prohibiting the sexual exploitation of minors might already apply, said Mary Anne Franks, a law professor at George Washington University who leads Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, an organization aiming to combat online abuses. But those protections don’t extend to adults who might find themselves in a similar scenario, she said.
The best fix, Franks said, would come from a federal law that can provide consistent protections nationwide and penalize dubious organizations profiting from products and apps that easily allow anyone to make deepfakes. She said that might also send a strong signal to minors who might create images of other kids impulsively.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order in October that, among other things, called for barring the use of generative AI to produce child sexual abuse material or non-consensual “intimate imagery of real individuals.” The order also directs the federal government to issue guidance to label and watermark AI-generated content to help differentiate between authentic and material made by software.
Citing the Westfield incident, U.S. Rep. Tom Kean, Jr., a Republican who represents the town, introduced a bill on Monday that would require developers to put disclosures on AI-generated content. Among other efforts, another federal bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Joe Morelle, a New York Democrat, would make it illegal to share deepfake porn images online. But it hasn’t advanced for months due to congressional gridlock.
Some argue for caution — including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and The Media Coalition, an organization that works for trade groups representing publishers, movie studios and others — saying that careful consideration is needed to avoid proposals that may run afoul of the First Amendment.
“Some concerns about abusive deepfakes can be addressed under existing cyber harassment” laws, said Joe Johnson, an attorney for ACLU of New Jersey. “Whether federal or state, there must be substantial conversation and stakeholder input to ensure any bill is not overbroad and addresses the stated problem.”
Mani said her daughter has created a website and set up a charity aiming to help AI victims. The two have also been in talks with state lawmakers pushing the New Jersey bill and are planning a trip to Washington to advocate for more protections.
“Not every child, boy or girl, will have the support system to deal with this issue,” Mani said. “And they might not see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
__
AP reporters Geoff Mulvihill and Matt O’Brien contributed from Cherry Hill, New Jersey and Providence, Rhode Island.
A mother and her 14-year-old daughter are advocating for better protections for victims after AI-generated nude images of the teen and other female classmates were circulated at a high school in New Jersey.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, officials are investigating an incident involving a teenage boy who allegedly used artificial intelligence to create and distribute similar images of other students – also teen girls – that attend a high school in suburban Seattle, Washington.
The disturbing cases have put a spotlight yet again on explicit AI-generated material that overwhelmingly harms women and children and is booming online at an unprecedented rate. According to an analysis by independent researcher Genevieve Oh that was shared with The Associated Press, more than 143,000 new deepfake videos were posted online this year, which surpasses every other year combined.
Desperate for solutions, affected families are pushing lawmakers to implement robust safeguards for victims whose images are manipulated using new AI models, or the plethora of apps and websites that openly advertise their services. Advocates and some legal experts are also calling for federal regulation that can provide uniform protections across the country and send a strong message to current and would-be perpetrators.
“We’re fighting for our children,” said Dorota Mani, whose daughter was one of the victims in Westfield, a New Jersey suburb outside of New York City. “They are not Republicans, and they are not Democrats. They don’t care. They just want to be loved, and they want to be safe.”
The problem with deepfakes isn’t new, but experts say it’s getting worse as the technology to produce it becomes more available and easier to use. Researchers have been sounding the alarm this year on the explosion of AI-generated child sexual abuse material using depictions of real victims or virtual characters. In June, the FBI warned it was continuing to receive reports from victims, both minors and adults, whose photos or videos were used to create explicit content that was shared online.
Several states have passed their own laws over the years to try to combat the problem, but they vary in scope. Texas, Minnesota and New York passed legislation this year criminalizing nonconsensual deepfake porn, joining Virginia, Georgia and Hawaii who already had laws on the books. Some states, like California and Illinois, have only given victims the ability to sue perpetrators for damages in civil court, which New York and Minnesota also allow.
A few other states are considering their own legislation, including New Jersey, where a bill is currently in the works to ban deepfake porn and impose penalties — either jail time, a fine or both — on those who spread it.
State Sen. Kristin Corrado, a Republican who introduced the legislation earlier this year, said she decided to get involved after reading an article about people trying to evade revenge porn laws by using their former partner’s image to generate deepfake porn.
“We just had a feeling that an incident was going to happen,” Corrado said.
The bill has languished for a few months, but there’s a good chance it might pass, she said, especially with the spotlight that’s been put on the issue because of Westfield.
The Westfield event took place this summer and was brought to the attention of the high school on Oct. 20, Westfield High School spokesperson Mary Ann McGann said in a statement. McGann did not provide details on how the AI-generated images were spread, but Mani, the mother of one of the girls, said she received a call from the school informing her nude pictures were created using the faces of some female students and then circulated among a group of friends on the social media app Snapchat.
The school hasn’t confirmed any disciplinary actions, citing confidentiality on matters involving students. Westfield police and the Union County Prosecutor’s office, who were both notified, did not reply to requests for comment.
Details haven’t emerged about the incident in Washington state, which happened in October and is under investigation by police. Paula Schwan, the chief of the Issaquah Police Department, said they have obtained multiple search warrants and noted the information they have might be “subject to change” as the probe continues. When reached for comment, the Issaquah School District said it could not discuss the specifics because of the investigation, but said any form of bullying, harassment, or mistreatment among students is “entirely unacceptable.”
If officials move to prosecute the incident in New Jersey, current state law prohibiting the sexual exploitation of minors might already apply, said Mary Anne Franks, a law professor at George Washington University who leads Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, an organization aiming to combat online abuses. But those protections don’t extend to adults who might find themselves in a similar scenario, she said.
The best fix, Franks said, would come from a federal law that can provide consistent protections nationwide and penalize dubious organizations profiting from products and apps that easily allow anyone to make deepfakes. She said that might also send a strong signal to minors who might create images of other kids impulsively.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order in October that, among other things, called for barring the use of generative AI to produce child sexual abuse material or non-consensual “intimate imagery of real individuals.” The order also directs the federal government to issue guidance to label and watermark AI-generated content to help differentiate between authentic and material made by software.
Citing the Westfield incident, U.S. Rep. Tom Kean, Jr., a Republican who represents the town, introduced a bill on Monday that would require developers to put disclosures on AI-generated content. Among other efforts, another federal bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Joe Morelle, a New York Democrat, would make it illegal to share deepfake porn images online. But it hasn’t advanced for months due to congressional gridlock.
Some argue for caution — including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and The Media Coalition, an organization that works for trade groups representing publishers, movie studios and others — saying that careful consideration is needed to avoid proposals that may run afoul of the First Amendment.
“Some concerns about abusive deepfakes can be addressed under existing cyber harassment” laws, said Joe Johnson, an attorney for ACLU of New Jersey. “Whether federal or state, there must be substantial conversation and stakeholder input to ensure any bill is not overbroad and addresses the stated problem.”
Mani said her daughter has created a website and set up a charity aiming to help AI victims. The two have also been in talks with state lawmakers pushing the New Jersey bill and are planning a trip to Washington to advocate for more protections.
“Not every child, boy or girl, will have the support system to deal with this issue,” Mani said. “And they might not see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
__
AP reporters Geoff Mulvihill and Matt O’Brien contributed from Cherry Hill, New Jersey and Providence, Rhode Island.
No one ever said being a teenager was easy. The often overstimulated world of teens involves a trendy song-and-dance balance of school, part-time jobs, sports, social media, and a healthy social life. Therefore, when holiday shopping for cool gifts for teens, anything you give should reflect their playful-youthful side while serving the opportunity to destress. But you’re going to have to hurry, if you want something they’ve saved from social media.
When shopping for cool gifts for teens, we like to find what’s currently trendy ahead of the game — so you can get them the thing they actually want before it sells out. These are some of the most popular gifts that still express their current passions and interests. Bonus points if these popular teen gifts spark their budding creativity or future career aspirations.
Here are the 20 cool gifts for teens that they will absolutely love.
Note: We are a reader-supported site and receive compensation from purchases made through some of the links in this post.
Comfort is king when it comes to what all the cool teens are wearing on their feet these days. The Rosscylo Cloud Slippers make for one of the best teen gifts during the holidays. These slippers feel like pillows under your toes, and they come in over 20 colors to please even the most discriminating teen.
Last year’s sold-out Ugg was the Ultra Mini, but if you have recently been in a Starbucks line, chances are you’ve spotted a teen wearing the uber-trendy Ugg Tasman Slipper, most likely in the Chestnut color. Naturally, these hip Ugg slipper-clogs make for a cool gift for a teen girl.
Aside from the slipper’s popularity, the versatility of the shoe being an indoor/outdoor shoe and the fact that it comes in an array of colors (classic black to neon green) earn extra gifting points. These are sure to be the coziest gift under this year’s tree.
The Bedshelfie is a practical (but cool) Christmas gift for any teen on your shopping list. Whether your teen lives in a dorm, shares a bedroom at home, or has too much stuff, this shelf that attaches to the bedside allows them to have all of their must-have essentials at their fingertips. It’s a win for any college student.
When shopping for a cool Christmas gift for the teenager on your list, look at what other teens around you are wearing. Chances are you’ve seen teens rocking the LuluLemon belt bags.
These popular belt bags are not only convenient, they are still as popular as ever and make for one cool gift for teens. The Lululemon Mini Belt Bag comes in four color/print options, perfect to fit the style of any youthful fashionista.
If it was cool 30 years ago, it is still cool today. Scrolling through social media, it is no secret that today’s teens have obsessions with vintage goods like records and record players. Thankfully, today’s record players are also Bluetooth compatible, so they can stream music from their smartphones. Or you can just gift them 1989 (Taylor’s Version) on vinyl to go with it.
Every teen has their musical taste. Some teens are downright obsessed with the coolest Indie bands, chart-topping pop stars, and old-school rockers. That means you can’t go wrong with on-ear Beats Solo headphones that will bring music to their ears (and peace to your own).
Not only do these on-ear headphones look sleek, they sound great, and there is no cord or tiny secondary ear pod to worry about misplacing. They’re great for tuning in for studying or listening to a podcast during a “hot girl walk”.
These days teens are reverting back to the 90s and taking photos on digital cameras rather than their smartphones to memorialize good times from sleepovers and parties. Earlier this year, cheap digital cameras sold out across the internet, but you can still snag this one from Ninolta for under $100. The camera has 44.0 megapixel , and they can still upload it to their phones so they can post to social media.
Stop your social scroll: the Fujifilm Mini 12 Instant Film Camera is a cool gift for teens who love to document daily life with friends and family. Why? They’ll get cute mini photos instantly that they can use to decorate their rooms or share with loved ones. Aside from the instant gratification that the Fujifilm offers, it comes in so many fun pastel colors, which may be the hardest decision you’ll make.
Teenage girls care about their hair; it’s an all-day, everyday obsession. While many of them might be asking for the very pricey Dyson Airwrap, the Shark Hair Blow Dryer gets the job done at a fraction of the price. Seen all over their TikTok pages, these hair dryer brushes will dry their hair quickly (so they won’t be late for school) and come with different attachments to style their hair.
Colorful smoothies, creamy coffee drinks, and quick protein blended drinks are popular with everyone these days. A powerful portable blender that can fit inside any teen’s backpack for a protein boost anywhere, anytime will guarantee they are living in their wellness era. The Ninja is powerful, durable, and compact, so it can stand up to hard use from busy teens.
No matter if your teen is a brave Gryffindor, radiant Ravenclaw, humble Hufflepuff, or savvy Slytherin, there is a cozy velvet robe for them waiting to be unwrapped. These plush velvet unisex Hogwarts House robes from PBteen will be pure magic when unwrapped on Christmas morning. They’ll likely spend the day watching all eight films while wearing it upon opening.
If the teen on your list is into the #cluttercore trend or just loves cute kitschy trinkets, this anime-ish toaster light is just the gift. Available in three colors—green, pink, and yellow—the light will be an unexpected (but welcomed) gift this season. And we think it’s super cute too!
The tumbler that broke the internet, the Stanley Quencher is still a popular option for any teen who needs an “emotional support water bottle”. Even if they already have one, there are so many colors to choose from that they’d likely appreciate a new pastel or bright-colored option to sip from.
The tumbler’s double-sealed vacuumed walls mean your beverage will stay cold (or hot) for hours on end, and the dishwasher-safe construction means it’s easy to keep clean.
The world of Lego makes for endless opportunities for the creative, curious, and design-obsessed teen on your list. If they loved building with these blocks as kids, this more mature Lego kit will provide a few hours of fun (and frustration) to your teen.As the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics near, the Paris Skyline Lego kit would make for a pretty cool gift.
What to get the teen on your list who is always dreaming, doodling, painting, and sketching? Their own acrylic painting set! This painting set includes a wooden easel, three canvases, brushes, and paints. It’s a one-stop-creative gift that any budding artist will appreciate as they try to become the next Bob Ross.
Thanks to Taylor Swift’, we are in the era of friendship bracelets. So what if the teen on your list already has beaded bracelets up to her elbows from the Eras concert they attended this year? This bead kit has everything she needs to make (many) friendship bracelets for themed parties. It’s the perfect gift if they were lucky enough to get tickets for her second leg of the Eras tour.
Everyone knows at least one video gamer in their life. If one happens to land on your shopping list, do they need a pro-worthy gaming chair? Specifically, do they need a gaming chair that is not only functional but fashionable? The answer is, yes they do. PBteen’s line of gaming chairs has styles to suit both girl and guy gamers. Style points aside, the built-in audio system (and Bluetooth) make this just as good of a gift for gaming as it is for jamming out in their room
Between school, after-school activities, and daily life, teens are stressed. Give them the gift of zen and relaxation at day’s end with a weighted blanket, which feels like a little hug when they’re lounging on the couch. It only weighs 15 pounds, so it won’t feel too heavy on their body, comes in various colors and prints, and is machine washable.
Stumped on what to get? This adorable Super Mario Super Star Light-Up Pillow comes straight out of Super Mario Bros. Wonder and would make for some good decor. The best part? It glows with a press of a button.
Yes, teens need their sleep. However, getting them to wake up is a struggle. Give the gift that is also a gift to yourself, the Hatch Restore alarm. The aesthetic alarm clock doubles as a sound machine with a gradual sunrise wake-up system that’s a little less harsh than an alarm. Teens can customize their clock’s features to fit their sleep and wake-up routine for a good night’s rest throughout the school year.
Between their avant-garde music taste and ability to code their way through new video games and gadgets, the tech-loving teenager in your life is likely the coolest kid you know. When shopping for tech gifts for teens, there’s no need to overthink it: simply look for the most trusted brands (we’re huge fans of Apple, JBL, and Anker), gadgets featuring user-friendly and intuitive features, and designs that’ll hold up to their unpredictable rough-and-tumble lifestyles.
Whether you’re gifting your teen a new Bluetooth speaker for the holidays or blessing them on their birthday with a compact drone, they’re bound to fall in love with the following top tech gifts for teens.
Whether they’re playing their favorite album on repeat or laughing along to their favorite standup comedy special or podcast, it’s no secret Apple Airpods are a teen favorite. They feature high-quality crisp sound, easy set-up and pairing, 24-hour battery life when stowed in the compact case, and seamless audio sharing to join in on the fun with other listeners. Plus, they can connect them to Siri when they’re looking to go hands-free.
Make their academic lives (and leisure time!) that much more streamlined with this popular HP laptop best suited for students. Its 14-inch anti-glare high-definition display is perfect for studying those PowerPoint slides or gaming with their buddies, while its upgraded processor allows for quicker response times and more efficient battery life so they can be as productive as possible. It’s a great affordable alternative if you can’t swing for an expensive MacBook.
Give them a taste of the analog days (before the iPhone era) with a handheld camera that creates memories with the click of a button. It’s got an automatic selfie mode, exposure detection based on their unique surroundings, and comes in the cutest colors they’ll want to show off, from sage green to lilac purple. Seriously, these are all the rage with college students and are definitely on their list.
4. For the One Who Could Use a Smart Assistant: Echo Pop
Credit: Amazon
Even kids these days can use the help of an assistant, so they’re bound to get tons of use out of this Alexa-enabled smart speaker. The newest Echo Pop was made with music listeners in mind with an enhanced speaker, but it still works wonders for asking quick questions or setting study timers. The small size blends seamlessly into tiny spaces for a perfect fit in their life in more ways than one, and if they’re a true techie they enable it to turn off lights with its smart capabilities.
The average teen is glued to their devices from morning to night and from class to extracurricular activities, so give them peace of mind with this super popular portable charger. On a single charge, it has the ability to power up an iPhone more than two times and an iPad more than one and a half times, and it features a compact and shatter-proof construction ideal for bringing on the go.
Between their textbooks, laptop, and bagged lunch, teens don’t have a ton of space to devote to their Bluetooth speakers. That’s why we highly recommend this clip-on waterproof Bluetooth speaker that doesn’t sacrifice on sound and style. It allows them to stream directly from their smartphone or tablet and boasts 10 hours of playtime for a cool vibe wherever they go.
If they have dreams of going viral from all those likes and subscribers, they’ll certainly appreciate this high-definition drone. It has voice and gesture control capabilities, a wide-angle lens to capture a bird’s eye view, and responsive flight paths for creative footage, no matter the theme of their YouTube channel or content creation. Plus, their friends will get a kick out of seeing their campus from a mile-high view.
Skip the bulky consoles and allow them to immerse themselves in new worlds on the fly. The Nintendo Switch features a vivid seven-inch OLED screen perfect for passing the time and discretely procrastinating on homework. It boasts crisp sound in both handheld and tabletop modes and can even be synched up to their TV for an unforgettable gaming experience. From the new Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Hogwarts Legacy, they’ll be able to have hours of fun playing with friends or completing an adventure solo.
Keep your creative teen engaged with this silent and responsive 3D printer that’ll quickly become their most prized possession. It allows them to create figurines, toys, and trinkets from scratch with prototypes plucked straight from their brain or the brand’s massive library, allowing them to literally enjoy (and display!) the fruits of their labor.
Accumulating stacks upon stacks of notebooks can deter any teen from taking proper notes during class. Make their experience that much more comfortable (and sustainable!) with the Rocketbook reusable notebook. It allows them to convert handwritten text to digital notes, which can then be scanned and wiped clean, making it the ultimate space- and sanity-saving solution.
Whether they’re looking to hit personal records on long runs or boost their performance for their school’s team sports, these light wraparound Bluetooth headphones will become a saving grace. They boast a secure fit that also allows for safe ambient sound to filter through, are fully waterproof against sweat and rain, and use bone conduction technology to filter sound through their cheekbones straight to their inner ear for crystal-clear audio that feels uniquely made for them. It allows them to listen while still hearing noises around them for safer runs on the roads or trails.
They’ve likely been squinting at their phones, tablets, or handheld gaming consoles all day — take the strain off their eyes and imbue their nighttime routine with a little novelty thanks to this powerful portable projector. It displays clear footage up to 100 inches wide and boasts immersive sound, so they’ll feel like they’re right there with their favorite cast members. With up to four hours of playtime on a single charge, they can easily binge their go-to series whenever, wherever.
Do you need gifts for teens this year? If you have a teen on your gift list this year, you know that teens are not the easiest to please. They aren’t quite adults, and they are no longer children. This makes gift-giving times extraordinarily difficult if you are trying to be creative. That’s why we set out to discover what teens wish for this holiday season. The result is this list full of teen-approved gift ideas so you’ll know exactly what to gift teens in your life this year!
This piece contains Amazon Affiliate links.
What To Buy For A Teenager?
When you think of gift ideas for teens, the first thing that probably pops into your mind is something like a gift card. Let them pick out what they want or need. And that’s all well and good. But, teens like opening presents, too. And what if you want to surprise them with a gift and not a card? What do you buy that a teen will love?
We went straight to the teens and asked for their Christmas wish lists. Then, we offered some suggestions for their approval to round out the list! The result is a teen-approved wish list for gift shopping, with items for a wide variety of budgets.
Sometimes an experience is a better gift than a “thing.” So, that leaves the question, “What do teens want to go do?” We asked and here’s what they said.
Take them to an Escape Room!
I’m sure at one time or another, we’ve thought about locking our kids up in a room and grabbing some peace while they navigated an escape route. So, a visit to an escape room near you could be the ultimate teen experience gift. These interactive escape rooms will challenge guests with their creative puzzles and talented actors.
In Greenville, SC try Escape Artist Greenville. You can read all about several of our experiences with the different rooms at Escape Artist.
Selfie Museum
A selfie museum, like The Pixel Experience in Greenville, is a unique spot to take selfie photos in a variety of themed rooms and walls. It will have your resident TikTok’r thinking you’re the best gift-giver ever! With 20+ backgrounds to take advantage of, the aspiring Instagram influencer in your family will have months of content to post!
Ax Throwing
We know what you are thinking. Handing an angst-ridden teen a hatchet or an ax and asking them to throw it at something might not be the first thing that comes to mind. It also probably doesn’t sound like the best idea. But trust me when I tell you, they will love it! Try Blue Ox Hatchet House in Greenville, SC.
Ziplining
Creating memories with your teenager while still being seen in public with you is a great gift to give them. But, sometimes, that needs to be disguised as an extreme activity, and you’ll need to step out of your comfort zone. Zip-lining is the perfect blend of that and safety. Plus, it won’t clutter up their bedroom.
Try The Gorge Zipline. If you feel even more adventurous, you can hop over to their sister site for some water-related adventures. Green River Adventures offers white water rafting, kayak, SUP, waterfall hikes, and rappelling.
Gifts for Music-Loving Teens
This section includes affiliate links.
Teenagers will always love music; this will never change. So giving them away to enjoy it quickly is a great gift that they can appreciate over and over! So here are some teen-approved ways to get those tunes to them.
Spotify Premium This popular music streaming service provides premium members with ad-free enjoyment of millions of songs. Plans range from $4.99 a month for college students to $14.99 for family plans that include six accounts.
Ad free music streaming, plus the ability to download your favorites to listen to when you’re offline. The first month is free and then $9.99 per month.
AirPods These slight wireless ear-bud-style headphones were super popular with the teens we polled. They work in companion with Apple brand products and can sense when they are in your ears! Prices range from $100-$200 depending on the model you select.
Bluetooth Beanie Hat I was shocked that the kids I spoke with had never heard of this! These knit beanie hats make a great gift not only for teens but for any age child (or adult). They look like your typical beanie hat, but tucked inside are wireless, Bluetooth headphones. They will work with any Bluetooth-enabled device and are great because there are no wires to damage younger kids! Prices range from $13 to $30.
iTunes Gift Cards I was surprised to find that my go-to teen gift idea was still trendy in this age range. Not only can they use the funds for music purchases but video games, movies, and more. Card values start at $25.
Jackson B. explained to me why he likes getting these as a gift – “iTunes gift cards because we use phones a lot and we can choose what we want to spend it on”
Apple Products If you have the budget for it, of the hundred or so teens I spoke to, nearly all of them mentioned some Apple brand devices – iPhones, iPods, Apple watches, Mac Books. It seems you can’t go wrong with a gift from the Apple store.
Concert Tickets A set of tickets to a concert for their favorite performer might be the perfect gift! Sporting event tickets also make a great gift, and there’s no shortage of sports teams locally to support!
Gift cards
Some of the more popular gift cards mentioned were for the following :
Coffee : Starbucks, Little River Coffee, Barista Alley, Bridge Coffee, and other local coffee shops
Makeup : Ulta, Sephora
Retailers : Target, American Eagle, Apple, Amazon
Shoes : Vans, Converse, Nike
Gaming Systems
Hefty price tag alert, but it probably comes as no surprise that gaming systems are popular among the teens also. Teens also said gaming chairs, curved gaming screens, gaming computers, desks, and headsets are also on their wishlists.
Subscription Box Gifts for Teens
Subscription services are a trend that offers everything from cooking to makeup, and teenagers want them! Some of the more popular mentioned were –
Fab Fit Fun these subscription boxes offer up to $300 worth of items for $54.99 quarterly. Items include room décor, health and beauty items, and more.
Sketch Box for $25-$35 a month, you will receive art supplies and a piece of art to inspire your creativity.
Escape The Crate If your teen likes escape room adventures, then this is the perfect gift! For $29.99 bi-monthly, they’ll receive a mystery along with challenges to decipher, tools to help, and exciting objects that serve as rewards as you advance through the puzzle.
Gifts For The Adventure Seeker
The most important item to a hydrated teen is a Hydroflask. They are a brand of insulated bottles, and they start at $30 for an 18oz bottle. Try Simple Modern brand bottles; they are less expensive, look the same, and have more color and accessory options. Plus, if a decal covers up that logo, no one will be the wiser—a 32oz Simple modern starts at $18.99.
Decal Stickers
Speaking of decals, they make a great gift! Check out locally owned shops for local decals, or look on for special interest decals on Etsy.
LadyBluByrd has decals with shoutouts to local places in Upstate, SC, famous characters, coffee, and more! These make an excellent stocking stuffer and are super easy to mail to a loved one.
Photo Credit: LadyBluByrd
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Depending on the teen you are shopping for, a sport-related gift might be perfect. Think about a gift for either a sport they play or a team they love! Think personalized collegiate flags, corn hole set with that same team décor, hoodies, even socks or slippers in their team’s colors.
Depending on the sport your child plays, new equipment is always a great idea. Skateboards and long-boards are still a popular thing, too.
Room Decor
Let teens dress up their space! These are a few room decor items teens asked for:
We are loving these room decor ideas because they are things teens will use all year long, and many of them are very budget-friendly. LED strips, fuzzy pillows, and lava lamps can all be found for under $25.
Teens Like to Eat: Food and Beverage gifts for teens
Growing teens seem to be able to eat and drink non-stop. The food doesn’t stay in the house long, the grocery list is endless, and bugging mom and dad for those special extra items is not always an option, which makes them a pretty perfect gift.
Soda Stream
A Soda Steam lets you make sodas and sparkling waters at home. While it’s one of the more expensive gifts for teens on this list, it’s definitely unique. And, it’ll let them make any flavors of sparkling beverages they’d like.
Do you know their favorite chips, cookies, or ice cream? If not, how about a care package-type box loaded with a huge variety of snacks?
Board Games for Teens
Escape the Room: Murder in the Mafia
ThinkFun’s Escape the Room games are essentially escape rooms in a box. They come cleverly assembled in the box in such a way that you only have to follow a few simple instructions to pop the room up before you’re ready to start looking for clues and playing the game.
Throughout the game the story booklet guides you through each chapter as you solve the clues, and see if you can determine who is the murderer. And if you get stuck you can go online for additional clues and assistance..
ThinkFun Escape the Room titles include:
EXIT Games
Another fun version of an escape room board games are EXIT games. You can spread these materials out and a larger group can work to solve these games. Clues are on cards, in booklets, and hidden in the strangest places. The card and solution wheel systems help you get hints if you’re stuck and also guide you from clue to clue. These games can only be played once as solving them often requires cutting or marking up game pieces, but they are worth it for a fun afternoon with family and friends.
Download a free app and use it to scan the cards and listen to the audio hints. Put them together in the right sequence to unlock each chapter with additional story clues. Finally, use the clues to put the story into the right order. This one is a great family teamwork game. The sounds are a little creepy, and the clues require listening carefully. But don’t worry if you get lost, the app can give you clues if you’re stuck!
We hope this helps you navigate the gift-giving season a bit easier.
Needs more gift ideas? Don’t miss our Holiday Gift Guide to Greenville. It includes ideas for experience Gifts, local gifts, ideas for teacher gifts, and much more!
LAS VEGAS — A 17-year-old high school student in Las Vegas was beaten to death in an alleyway around the corner from campus by 10 of his classmates between the ages of 13 and 17, a prearranged fight that authorities said broke out over a pair of headphones and a vape pen.
But police homicide Lt. Jason Johansson said that detectives think the victim wasn’t originally supposed to be involved in the brawl, which the students agreed would take place after classes were done for the day at Rancho High School in eastern Las Vegas.
Jonathan Lewis Jr. walked to the alleyway with his friend, whose headphones and vape pen had been stolen, Johansson said.
The deadly beating on Nov. 1 was captured on cellphone video and widely shared on social media. Johansson described the footage as “very void of humanity.”
In the video, he said, the victim is seen taking off his shirt to prepare for the fight, and then the 10 students “immediately swarm him, pull him to the ground and begin kicking, punching and stomping on him.”
Eight of the students were arrested Tuesday by Las Vegas police and the FBI on suspicion of murder. They were not immediately identified because they are under 18.
Las Vegas police said they haven’t yet been able to identify the two remaining students, who will also face murder charges. The police department released images of the teenagers, asking for help from the public to identify them.
On Wednesday afternoon, as classes ended for the day and students were leaving campus, a small memorial with flowers and eight candles sat against a fence in the alleyway where Lewis was killed.
Rancho High School principal Darlin Delgado said in a letter this week to parents that support and resources were available for students and staff members as the beating “has and will continue to impact our school community.”
Scott Coffee, a deputy public defender with 28 years of experience in Las Vegas, said it is unusual to have so many co-defendants of such young ages charged with murder in a single case. Coffee said he had not seen court documents and does not represent any of the defendants.
“When kids are involved in this kind of activity, they take the risk by being involved,” Coffee said. “But the flip side is this: Does it look like anybody intended to kill anyone?”
A family court judge on Wednesday ordered four of the students who are 16 or older to be transferred to the adult court system, the Review-Journal reported. Hearings will be held at later dates to determine if the students under 16 will be charged as adults.
Police and prosecutors will have to measure the level of culpability for each of the 10 defendants as the case moves through the court system, Coffee noted.
“Was there somebody in charge of this group? Was somebody younger just going along with the older folks?” he said, adding that although the students face similar charges at the time of their arrests, “it doesn’t mean the resolutions are necessarily going to be similar.”
After the brawl, a person in the area found the teenager badly beaten and unconscious in the alleyway and carried him back to campus, where school staff called 911, police said.
Lewis was hospitalized with severe head trauma and other injuries until his death a week later. The coroner’s office in Las Vegas ruled the beating a homicide.
The victim’s father, Jonathan Lewis Sr., didn’t respond Wednesday to requests for an interview. But on a fundraising page he created to help with funeral and medical expenses, he wrote that his son was attacked while standing up for his friend.
“Our son is a kind, loving, gentle young man who has the heart of a champion and the brightest loving energy that attracts people to him with love,” the page reads.
A police officer being investigated in the killing of a 17-year-old of North African origin that touched off riots around France was freed from jail Wednesday while the probe continues
ByThe Associated Press
November 15, 2023, 2:20 PM
FILE – A demonstrator runs on the third night of protests sparked by the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old driver in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, France, Friday, June 30, 2023. A police officer in France being investigated in the killing in June of a 17-year-old of North African origin that touched off riots has been freed from jail while the investigation continues, it was announced Wednesday, Nov. 15. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, File)
The Associated Press
PARIS — A police officer being investigated in the killing of a 17-year-old of North African origin that touched off riots around France was freed from jail Wednesday while the probe continues.
The prosecutor’s office in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, where Nahel Merzouk was shot, said magistrates concluded that continued detention of the motorcycle officer “no longer fulfills the legal criteria” for which he was held.
The officer, who has been identified only as Florian M., was jailed June 29, two days after Merzouk was killed.
The teenager was shot during a traffic stop in Nanterre. Video showed two officers at the window of the Mercedes the youth was driving, one with his gun pointed at the teenager. As the car pulled forward, the officer fired once.
The officer was given a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide, which means there must be further investigation before an eventual decision to put him on trial.
The judges on Wednesday ordered the police officer to stay out of Nanterre and forbade him from possessing a weapon or having contact with witnesses or civil parties in the case, the prosecutor’s office said. He must regularly report to authorities.
Lawyers for the officer had made pleas for his release, but all were turned down until a new demand a week ago.
The riots again highlighted the frustration of many residents of poor suburbs in France with a high rate of people of immigrant origin.
The rioting was driven by a mainly teenage backlash against a French state that many with immigrant roots say routinely discriminates against them.
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This version corrects the spelling of the last name to Merzouk.
On the same day whistleblower Frances Haugen was testifying before Congress about the harms of Facebook and Instagram to children in the fall of 2021, a former engineering director at the social media giant who had rejoined the company as a consultant sent an alarming email to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the same topic.
Arturo Béjar, known for his expertise on curbing online harassment, recounted to Zuckerberg his own daughter’s troubling experiences with Instagram. But he said his concerns and warnings went unheeded. And on Tuesday, it was Béjar’s turn to testify to Congress.
“I appear before you today as a dad with firsthand experience of a child who received unwanted sexual advances on Instagram,” he told a panel of U.S. senators.
Béjar worked as an engineering director at Facebook from 2009 to 2015, attracting wide attention for his work to combat cyberbullying. He thought things were getting better. But between leaving the company and returning in 2019 as a contractor, Béjar’s own daughter had started using Instagram.
“She and her friends began having awful experiences, including repeated unwanted sexual advances, harassment,” he testified Tuesday. “She reported these incidents to the company and it did nothing.”
In the 2021 note, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal, Béjar outlined a “critical gap” between how the company approached harm and how the people who use its products — most notably young people — experience it.
“Two weeks ago my daughter, 16, and an experimenting creator on Instagram, made a post about cars, and someone commented ‘Get back to the kitchen.’ It was deeply upsetting to her,” he wrote. “At the same time the comment is far from being policy violating, and our tools of blocking or deleting mean that this person will go to other profiles and continue to spread misogyny. I don’t think policy/reporting or having more content review are the solutions.”
Béjar testified before a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday about social media and the teen mental health crisis, hoping to shed light on how Meta executives, including Zuckerberg, knew about the harms Instagram was causing but chose not to make meaningful changes to address them.
He believes that Meta needs to change how it polices its platforms, with a focus on addressing harassment, unwanted sexual advances and other bad experiences even if these problems don’t clearly violate existing policies. For instance, sending vulgar sexual messages to children doesn’t necessarily break Instagram’s rules, but Béjar said teens should have a way to tell the platform they don’t want to receive these types of messages.
“I can safely say that Meta’s executives knew the harm that teenagers were experiencing, that there were things that they could do that are very doable and that they chose not to do them,” Béjar told The Associated Press. This, he said, makes it clear that “we can’t trust them with our children.”
Opening the hearing Tuesday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary’s privacy and technology subcommittee, introduced Béjar as an engineer “widely respected and admired in the industry” who was hired specifically to help prevent harms against children but whose recommendations were ignored.
“What you have brought to this committee today is something every parent needs to hear,” added Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, the panel’s ranking Republican.
Béjar pointed to user surveys carefully crafted by the company that show, for instance, that 13% of Instagram users — ages 13-15 — reported having received unwanted sexual advances on the platform within the previous seven days.
Béjar said he doesn’t believe the reforms he’s suggesting would significantly affect revenue or profits for Meta and its peers. They are not intended to punish the companies, he said, but to help teenagers.
“You heard the company talk about it ‘oh this is really complicated,’” Béjar told the AP. “No, it isn’t. Just give the teen a chance to say ‘this content is not for me’ and then use that information to train all of the other systems and get feedback that makes it better.”
The testimony comes amid a bipartisan push in Congress to adopt regulations aimed at protecting children online.
Meta, in a statement, said “Every day countless people inside and outside of Meta are working on how to help keep young people safe online. The issues raised here regarding user perception surveys highlight one part of this effort, and surveys like these have led us to create features like anonymous notifications of potentially hurtful content and comment warnings. Working with parents and experts, we have also introduced over 30 tools to support teens and their families in having safe, positive experiences online. All of this work continues.”
Regarding unwanted material users see that does not violate Instagram’s rules, Meta points to its 2021 ” content distribution guidelines ” that say “problematic or low quality” content automatically receives reduced distribution on users’ feeds. This includes clickbait, misinformation that’s been fact-checked and “borderline” posts, such as a ”photo of a person posing in a sexually suggestive manner, speech that includes profanity, borderline hate speech, or gory images.”
In 2022, Meta also introduced “kindness reminders” that tell users to be respectful in their direct messages — but it only applies to users who are sending message requests to a creator, not a regular user.
Tuesday’s testimony comes just two weeks after dozens of U.S. states sued Meta for harming young people and contributing to the youth mental health crisis. The lawsuits, filed in state and federal courts, claim that Meta knowingly and deliberately designs features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms.
Béjar said it is “absolutely essential” that Congress passes bipartisan legislation “to help ensure that there is transparency about these harms and that teens can get help” with the support of the right experts.
“The most effective way to regulate social media companies is to require them to develop metrics that will allow both the company and outsiders to evaluate and track instances of harm, as experienced by users. This plays to the strengths of what these companies can do, because data for them is everything,” he wrote in his prepared testimony.
HELENA, Mont. — A 36-year-old man living in Montana with a teenager who mysteriously disappeared from Arizona four years ago has been charged with two felony counts of child sexual abuse based on images found on his phone, authorities said Tuesday.
Edmund Davis was arrested Monday in Chinook, Montana, and was being held in the Hill County Detention Center on a $1 million bond.
It was unknown if Davis is considered a suspect in the disappearance of Alicia Navarro. Authorities in Montana referred questions to law enforcement in Arizona, who said the investigation into the teenager’s disappearance is ongoing.
The announcement of the criminal charges by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen ends months of silence by authorities about Navarro’s case. But key questions remain unanswered, including how and when the teenager ended up in far northern Montana — nearly 1,400 miles (2,253 kilometers) from her childhood home in Glendale, Arizona — and whether Davis played a part in her disappearance.
Navarro left a note behind when she disappeared from her home days before her 15th birthday, sparking a massive search that included the FBI. She was almost 19 when she walked into the Havre, Montana, police station in July and said she wanted to be removed from the missing persons list.
Over the years, Navarro’s mother, Jessica Nuñez, said that her daughter, who was diagnosed with autism, may have been lured away by someone she met online. When she disappeared in 2019, Navarro took only her laptop and cell phone.
Davis has not yet appeared in court on the charges and no hearings have yet been scheduled, court officials said. He made an initial appearance in Justice Court in Blaine County, said Kyler Nerison, a spokesman for Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen.
Davis did not have an attorney on record and calls to telephone numbers listed under his name went unanswered. He’s charged with child sexual abuse, which can result in life in prison, and knowingly possessing electronic images of a child or children under 12 engaged in sexual conduct, which carries a 100-year prison sentence.
In July Davis was detained and questioned by police who also searched the Montana apartment that he had been living in with Navarro, according to neighbors and authorities. During that search, officers saw Davis throw his cellphone into a trashcan and place items on top of it as if to hide it, according to a law enforcement affidavit.
Dozens of images of suspected child sex abuse were found on Davis’ phone, the affidavit said. The charges describe the images as involving prepubescent girls, infants and toddlers.
Police provided no details at the time about Davis, but neighbors said he’d been living with Navarro for at least a year. An Associated Press reporter spoke with a young woman at the Havre apartment who looked and sounded like Navarro but she didn’t give her name and said she wanted to be left alone.
The couple moved out of the apartment days after Navarro’s whereabouts were revealed by media reports, according to neighbors.
Davis’ mother, Cora Davis, said Tuesday that she did not know where her son has been living recently or details about Navarro.
The Glendale Police Department on Tuesday declined to answer questions on the investigation into Navarro’s disappearance, including what additional information authorities had gathered during the residence search in Havre and in follow-up interviews.
Authorities in July said it was up to Navarro whether to return home since she was 18 years old and legally an adult. Her mother could not be reached immediately for comment.
In the year’s after her daughter’s disappearance, Nuñez paid for a billboard ad in Mexico that featured a photo of her daughter and bought 10 more ads in Las Vegas. She also spoke at events and gave media interviews to raise awareness about missing people.
Authorities in 2019 collected security footage from around the family’s neighborhood, and tried to track Navarro’s phone and laptop. They followed up on dozens of reports of possible sightings of the missing teenager around her Arizona town that came up empty.
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Associated Press reporters Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix and Rio Yamat in Las Vegas contributed to this story.
Dozens of US states, including California and New York, are suing Meta Platforms Inc. for harming young people and contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly and deliberately designing features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms.
A lawsuit filed by 33 states in federal court in California, claims that Meta routinely collects data on children under 13 without their parents’ consent, in violation of federal law. In addition, nine attorneys general are filing lawsuits in their respective states, bringing the total number of states taking action to 41 and Washington, D.C.
“Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens. Its motive is profit, and in seeking to maximize its financial gains, Meta has repeatedly misled the public about the substantial dangers of its social media platforms,” the complaint says. “It has concealed the ways in which these platforms exploit and manipulate its most vulnerable consumers: teenagers and children.”
The suits seek financial damages and restitution and an end to Meta’s practices that are in violation of the law.
“Kids and teenagers are suffering from record levels of poor mental health and social media companies like Meta are to blame,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James in a statement. “Meta has profited from children’s pain by intentionally designing its platforms with manipulative features that make children addicted to their platforms while lowering their self-esteem.”
In a statement, Meta said it shares “the attorneys general’s commitment to providing teens with safe, positive experiences online, and have already introduced over 30 tools to support teens and their families.”
“We’re disappointed that instead of working productively with companies across the industry to create clear, age-appropriate standards for the many apps teens use, the attorneys general have chosen this path,” the company added.
The broad-ranging federal suit is the result of an investigation led by a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Vermont. It follows damning newspaper reports, first by The Wall Street Journal in the fall of 2021, based on the Meta’s own research that found that the company knew about the harms Instagram can cause teenagers — especially teen girls — when it comes to mental health and body image issues. One internal study cited 13.5% of teen girls saying Instagram makes thoughts of suicide worse and 17% of teen girls saying it makes eating disorders worse.
Following the first reports, a consortium of news organizations, including The Associated Press, published their own findings based on leaked documents from whistleblower Frances Haugen, who has testified before Congress and a British parliamentary committee about what she found.
“Meta has been harming our children and teens, cultivating addiction to boost corporate profits,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta. “With today’s lawsuit, we are drawing the line.”
The use of social media among teens is nearly universal in the U.S. and many other parts of the world. Almost all teens ages 13 to 17 in the U.S. report using a social media platform, with about a third saying they use social media “almost constantly,” according to the Pew Research Center.
To comply with federal regulation, social media companies ban kids under 13 from signing up to their platforms — but children have been shown to easily get around the bans, both with and without their parents’ consent, and many younger kids have social media accounts. The states’ complaint says Meta knowingly violated this law, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, by collecting data on children without informing and getting permission from their parents.
Other measures social platforms have taken to address concerns about children’s mental health are also easily circumvented. For instance, TikTok recently introduced a default 60-minute time limit for users under 18. But once the limit is reached, minors can simply enter a passcode to keep watching. TikTok, Snapchat and other social platforms that have also been blamed for contributing to the youth mental health crisis are not part of Tuesday’s lawsuit.
Washington D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb wouldn’t comment on whether they’re also looking at TikTok or Snapchat. For now they’re focusing on the Meta empire of Facebook and Instagram, he said.
“They’re the worst of the worst when it comes to using technology to addict teenagers to social media, all in the furtherance of putting profits over people.”
In May, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy called on tech companies, parents and caregivers to take “immediate action to protect kids now” from the harms of social media.
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Associated Press Writers Michael Casey, Michael Goldberg, Susan Haigh, Maysoon Khan and Ashraf Khalil contributed to this story.
Authorities say a man accused of fatally shooting a 15-year-old last year was beaten by members of the teen’s family during a courtroom melee in San Antonio, Texas
ByThe Associated Press
October 22, 2023, 5:15 PM
SAN ANTONIO — A man accused of fatally shooting a 15-year-old last year was beaten by members of the teen’s family during a courtroom melee in San Antonio, authorities said.
Victor Rivas, 18, who is charged with murder in the May 2022 death of Ethan Soto, was in a Bexar County courtroom Friday awaiting a preliminary hearing when he was attacked.
Rivas’ attorney, Adam LaHood, said his client was “going to be bruised and swollen” but was not otherwise injured.
Four people — two men and two juveniles — were arrested and will be charged with assault and disrupting court proceedings, the Bexar County sheriff’s office said. Their names haven’t been released.
Last week in Houston, a brawl broke out during a Harris County court hearing when family members of a murdered 16-year-old girl tried to attack her ex-boyfriend after he’d pleaded guilty to shooting her.
As deputies responded to the commotion in Houston courtroom on Oct. 17, an inmate who was left unattended in a holding area managed to walk out of the courthouse. The Harris County sheriff’s office said Thursday that the inmate had been recaptured.
WASHINGTON — Last year, a teenager in a small Michigan town killed himself after an online chat turned to demands that he pay money to keep intimate photos secret. He was one of dozens of people targeted online by two men extradited from Nigeria to face charges, FBI director Christopher Wray said Saturday.
The arrests came after the FBI joined with police in Michigan to investigate the death of 17-year-old Jordan DeMay, one thousands of American teenagers targeted in a sharp rise in online “sextortion” cases in recent years.
“They will face charges in the U.S. for what they did to Jordan, but also unfortunately, a whole bunch of other young men and teenage boys,” Wray said in an interview with The Associated Press. “You’re talking about a crime that doesn’t respect borders. We make sure our partnerships don’t have any borders either.”
Wray highlighted the case in a speech to the International Association of Chiefs of Police about the ways the agency assists police in tackling violent crime, fentanyl and gangs. In a year where tensions between Congress and the FBI have run high at times, Wray focused on the agency’s relationships with U.S. police departments large and small, including some 6,000 task force officers around the country.
“The threats that we face collectively around the country are incredibly daunting,” he said. “By far and away, the most effective means of tackling those threats is teamwork.”
After DeMay’s death in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the FBI joined the investigation by the sheriff’s department in Marquette County and state police. DeMay had thought he was chatting with a girl on Instagram about his own age, and the conversation quickly turned to a request for explicit pictures, authorities said.
But once he shared images of himself, the talk changed to demands for money in exchange for the other side not sending the images to DeMay’s family and friends. When the teenager could not pay, the person on the other end pushed DeMay to kill himself, authorities said.
DeMay had never been talking with a girl, according to the FBI, which said that on the other end were two brothers from Nigeria using a hacked Instagram account. They researched him online, using details about his friends and family to target their threats. They also tried to contact more than 100 people the same way, authorities said.
The pair, Samuel Ogoshi and Samson Ogoshi of Lagos, Nigeria, have pleaded not guilty. Samuel Ogoshi’s lawyer declined to comment. Samson Ogoshi’s lawyer did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
The FBI has seen a tenfold increase in “sextortion” cases since 2021. A least 3,000 children and teenagers have been targeted, and more than a dozen have killed themselves. Many schemes are believed to be originating with scammers based in African countries such as Nigeria and the Ivory Coast. Most victims are between age 14 and 17, but kids as young as 10 have been targeted.
DeMay’s mother, Jennifer Buta, said he was an easygoing high school athlete with a girlfriend and a big circle of friends. He was preparing to go a trip to Florida with his father the night before his death, she said. HIs family has since spoken out about his death, urging other parents to talk with their kids about “sextortion” schemes.
“It’s important parents know that this can happen. Their child is not an exception. If they are on social media, it can happen so quickly,” she said. “Parents need to let their kids know that they can come to them with anything, and their parents are there to help them and guide them through these situations.”
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected a bill on Sunday that would have made free condoms available all public high school students, arguing it was too expensive for a state with a budget deficit of more than $30 billion.
California had about 1.9 million high school students enrolled in more than 4,000 schools last year, according to the California Department of Education.
“This bill would create an unfunded mandate to public schools that should be considered in the annual budget process,” Newsom wrote in a message explaining why he vetoed the bill, known as Senate bill 541.
The bill is one of hundreds passed by California’s Democratic-dominated state Legislature before lawmakers adjourned last month. Newsom has been signing and vetoing legislation since then, including rejecting bills on Saturday to ban caste-based discrimination, limit the price of insulin and decriminalize possession and use of some hallucinogens.
The bill would have required all public schools that have grades nine through 12 to make condoms available for free to all students. It would have required public schools with grades seven through 12 to allow condoms to be made available as part of educational or public health programs.
And it would have made it illegal for retailers to refuse to sell condoms to youth.
State Sen. Caroline Menjivar, a Democrat from Los Angeles and the author of the bill, had argued the bill would have helped “youth who decide to become sexually active to protect themselves and their partners from (sexually transmitted infections), while also removing barriers that potentially shame them and lead to unsafe sex.”
Newsom said programs increasing access to condoms are “important to supporting improved adolescent sexual health.” But he said this bill was one of several measures lawmakers passed this year that, when added together, would add $19 billion in costs to the state budget.
“With our state facing continuing economic risk and revenue uncertainty, it is important to remain disciplined when considering bills with significant fiscal implications, such as this measure,” Newsom said.
Also on Sunday, Newsom signed a law aimed a electrifying the state’s fleet of school buses. Starting in 2035, the law will require any new bus purchased or contracted by school districts to be zero-emission.
California’s public school districts that provide their own transportation own about 15,800 school buses, of which 10,800 are powered by diesel fuel, according to a 2022 report from the Legislative Analyst’s Office.
The law is part of California’s plan to phase out the use of fossil fuels. State regulations will ban the sale of new gas-powered cars in California by 2035.
Police and witnesses say groups of teenagers swarmed into stores in Philadelphia’s Central City on Tuesday night, stuffing plastic bags with merchandise and fleeing, although police made several arrests
ByThe Associated Press
September 26, 2023, 11:17 PM
PHILADELPHIA — Groups of teenagers swarmed into stores in Philadelphia’s Central City on Tuesday, stuffing plastic bags with merchandise and fleeing, although police made several arrests, authorities and witnesses said.
An Apple Store was hit at around 8 p.m. and police chased fleeing teenagers, recovering dropped iPhones and a “pile of iPads” at one spot, a police statement said.
More than 100 people who appeared to be teenagers looted a Lululemon store, NBC10 Philadelphia reported, citing a police officer.
Video posted on social media showed masked people in hoodies running out of Lululemon and police officers grabbing several and tackling them to the sidewalk, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
No injuries were immediately reported but CBS Philadelphia said a security guard was assaulted at the Foot Locker.
The flash mob-style ransacking followed an earlier peaceful protest over a judge’s Tuesday decision to dismiss murder and other charges against a Philadelphia police officer who shot and killed a driver, Eddie Irizarry, through a rolled-up window.
However, several police commanders said that the store ransacking wasn’t connected to earlier demonstrations, CBS Philadelphia reported.
The thefts also occurred on the same day that Target announced it will close nine stores in four states, including one in New York City’s East Harlem neighborhood, and three in the San Francisco Bay Area, saying that theft and organized retail crime have threatened the safety of its workers and customers.
VICTORVILLE, Calif. — A viral video shows a Southern California sheriff’s deputy slamming a teenage girl to the ground during a fight outside a Friday night high school football game, a use of force her mother says sent the 16-year-old to the hospital with injuries to her head and spine.
The altercation prompted a protest Sunday at the San Bernardino County sheriff’s substation in Victorville, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) northeast of downtown Los Angeles.
The video, recorded on a bystander’s cellphone, shows the 16-year-old girl at first struggling with one San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy. Another approaches her from behind and grabs her around her torso. That deputy lifts her up off the ground and slams her backwards to the pavement. The footage shows the teen’s head and back hitting the ground hard as her legs fly up into the air.
The department’s news release said the deputy “pulled the female away causing her to land on the ground.”
The sheriff’s department provided few details about the brawl outside the game. The news release said deputies responded shortly before 6:30 p.m. and found “multiple parties” fighting.
The department alleges the teenager grabbed another deputy’s pepper-ball launcher before the altercation. That deputy had sprayed pepper balls into the crowd to try to get people to disperse, “but the effort was ineffective, and the parties began moving toward the deputy,” the agency said in the news release.
The girl’s mother said the teenager was hospitalized with traumatic injuries to her head and spine.
“He attacked my daughter from behind,” Priscilla Jeffers told KCAL. “She’s 16 years old. He was a grown man, and he attacked my daughter. Now my daughter is scarred, now she’s messed up, and I don’t know how long she’s gonna be messed up because of this.”
The deputy’s actions are under investigation — which is the agency’s policy for any use of force — and his name has not been made public. The department said no deputies have been suspended or disciplined.
Priscilla Jeffers did not immediately respond to The Associated Press’ request for comment Monday.
The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office said Monday that it was aware of the incident but was not involved in a use of force investigation.
A 16-year-old boy was taken into custody after he allegedly punched a deputy in the face during the brawl, the sheriff’s department said. While the agency said he was booked into a juvenile facility, the teen’s mother said she was initially unable to locate him.
“He attacked my son first,” Kelani Lynch, the boy’s mother, told KTLA. “He was in the wrong and used aggressive force on a 16-year-old.”
Lynch also did not immediately return the AP’s request for comment.
Carl Coles, superintendent of the Victor Valley Union High School District, said officials are examining what occurred during Friday’s “distressing events.”
“We are fully cooperating with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department in their investigation,” Coles said in a statement. “We have contacted the family to offer support to the student who suffered injuries. We request the community’s patience as this matter is still under investigation.”
LAS VEGAS — Two teenagers made very brief initial appearances Thursday in adult court in Las Vegas where a prosecutor said they will face murder, attempted murder and other charges after allegedly capturing themselves on video intentionally crashing a stolen car into a bicyclist pedaling along the side of a road, killing him.
The teens, ages 18 and 16, appeared separately before a judge who scheduled each to appear again next Tuesday in Las Vegas Justice Court. Neither spoke or was asked to enter a plea, and both were being held without bail.
Police said this week that evidence shows the teens were together responsible for at least three hit-and-run incidents the morning of Aug. 14, including the crash that killed cyclist Andreas “Andy” Probst, 64, a retired former police chief from the Los Angeles-area city of Bell.
The Associated Press is not naming the teens due to their ages.
Their cases were handled individually because the older one, who was 17 at the time, was arrested the day of the crashes on charges related to fatal hit-and-run and possession of a stolen vehicle. The 16-year-old was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of murder and other charges after the video of the bicycle crash circulated widely on the internet.
“Both these defendants will be charged with open murder, attempted murder and many other related charges,” Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson told reporters outside court. He said prosecutors will seek to try the cases together and high bail pending trial. He called the teens a danger to the community.
“The events in these cases are related,” Wolfson said. “I’m very confident these cases will be consolidated.”
The teens cannot face the death penalty. Under Nevada law, if they are convicted in adult court of murder committed before they were 18, the most severe sentence they can receive is 20 years to life in state prison.
Only the older teen was represented by an attorney. David Westbrook, a public defender representing him, declined outside court to comment about the case but confirmed that his client was 17 when he was arrested last month and turned 18 in custody.
Judge Rebecca Saxe told the 16-year-old that he will have a lawyer appointed at his next court appearance.
Probst’s widow, Crystal Probst, and daughter, Taylor Probst, were in court for Thursday’s hearing but left immediately afterward without speaking with reporters. Taylor Probst spoke publicly during a police news conference Tuesday.
The video, shot from the front passenger seat, shows the vehicle approaching Probst from behind as he rides near the curb on an otherwise traffic-free road. Male voices in the car can be heard laughing as the vehicle steers toward Probst and rams the bicycle. Probst hurtles backward across the hood and into the windshield. He is then seen on the ground next to the curb.
Police said they weren’t aware of the video until a high school resource officer provided it to investigators two weeks later. On Aug. 29, police announced they were searching for the passenger who recorded the video.
Wolfson declined to say Thursday whether police have the cellphone on which the video was allegedly recorded.
According to police, the teenagers first struck a 72-year-old bicyclist while in a stolen Hyundai sedan, drove away, crashed into a Toyota Corolla and again drove away before striking Probst.
